Everyone has their own passions, and in the world of selling merchandise from Apple computers to xylophones, none of us want to admit making poor purchases. We expect to buy good products, and admittedly good products with lousy customer service still sells, but good service can steal away the competition in just a flick of the manicured toenails.

My first encounter with the sales person set the pace. She smiled; she was helpful, and she knew her product. Other customers were engaged in conversations with the sales staff attending to them, and there was a general lilt of camaraderie recognized by those of us who share the “shoe passion.” Sales representatives were having as much fun as the customers. Sales personnel were zipping in and out of the stock room and returning with boxes upon boxes in lightning speed. They knew their colors, styles, manufacturers, and sizing tendencies. (some designer sizes run smaller or larger than others) No one was rushed, and it was all about my feelings yesterday and how the staff at this store made me feel.

Of course you may not understand the pleasure some women get from buying shoes, but the customer service experience we personally encounter can be a barometer how others perceive service, except those of us who write about it or train are more critical in our observations. That first impression is what I looked for when I entered the shoe department. I smiled when she smiled at me. I wanted to see how helpful she would be without hovering over me while I inspected the attractive display of every upscale designer shoe known to women around Palm Beach County. She knew instinctively to let me browse on my own until I turned around with a shoe in my hand, and there she was ready to help me find my size. I’m sure as with most customers I would not have told her if she had made me unhappy had she ignored me, smothered me, took too long to find the shoes, or didn’t know her product; I just probably would not have come back.

From the beginning to the end, my experience was seamless. After she rang up my sale, she asked me by name to sign my credit card, and stepped out behind the counter, smiled, thanked me profusely, and handed me my package. I will be back.

photo credit: M_Shahab

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This is a pretty lengthy interview, so I’ve divided it into four parts. Part one includes an introduction to Doria and her background with American Express, a quick overview of the different service centers that American Express has around the country, and some information on how American Express hires and trains its customer service representatives (called Customer Care Professionals).

You can see part one of the interview by clicking “read more.” A preview of part two is also included at the end of this part.

Question: Tell me a little bit how you got started at American Express, what your role is, and what you do at the company?
Answer: Believe it or not, I have been with this great company for 23 years. I started as a publisher for Departures Magazine. I then moved to our merchant business in the US, and then moved to our merchant business in Latin America and Caribbean. Five years ago, I joined the service center as General Manager here. My role is to ensure, through all of our customer touch points at the center, that we are delivering extraordinary customer care each and every day as assigned by customers. It is important that we are gathering feedback on all of our transactions with the customer and then feeding it back to our customer care professionals so that we continue to raise the bar every day.

Question: Is the Fort Lauderdale call center the main American Express customer service center?
Answer: Actually no, it’s not. We have four service centers here in the US. Fort Lauderdale is largest and oldest, but one of four.

Question: Where are the other ones?
Answer: We have a service center in Greensboro, Salt Lake City, and Phoenix. We have a global network, and one of the neat things about the organization is that for the first time in the history of the company, it is managed globally.  So instead of a US service network and an international service network, since the beginning of year we have had a global service network we call World Service.

Question: Is there a rhyme or reason to how calls are routed and how call centers are staffed? Divided up by divisions? Just a little bit of everything goes to each place?
Answer: It varies. In my center, we primarily serve our Centurion and Platinum card members. We have some of our credit and collections team here that serves our high balance customers; we have the dispute process team so if a cardmember has a billing dispute with a merchant we serve them here in this center. We have a large co-brand servicing team here as well as in Greensboro and a smaller one in Phoenix. We have business contingency plans for each one of our card products that allow all of us to essentially back each other up.

Question: How many representatives do you have in your center?
Answer: Here in Fort Lauderdale, we have about 2,500 customer care professionals. I also oversee another site here in South Florida where have approximately 400 customer care professionals handling billing and payments (or sending out statements and processing remittances.)

Question: How do you go about staffing them and hiring and training? Interview? Things like that?
Answer: At American Express, service is at the core of our brand. Since our founding 160 years ago, customer satisfaction has been a top priority for us – we want our customers to have a great experience with American Express at every touch point. Bringing the right kind of front-line employees into the organization is a critical component of building strong and lasting relationships with customers.

And a few years back, we actually revamped the whole employee process. We began to think differently about how we hire, train and compensate our employees. We now look for people who have hospitality, sales, and retail experience because we really believe if they have that service background in their DNA, we can train them on any one of our processes. We created new structured development opportunities and clearly defined career paths for our customer care professionals so that they are gaining more and learning more as they progress in their role. We invest more in our new hire program with twice as much time devoted to training as many of our competitors so that we are better positioning our customer care professionals. We’ve invested in technology tools that are easier to navigate so customer care professionals can spend time developing a relationship with customers and spend more time providing answers and solutions on each call. And last, we evaluated our compensation plan to make sure we were incenting the right behavior. Now, our customer care professional incentives are driven by customer feedback. It’s something that we started four years ago.

Question: What are hiring processes like from application to when they start the learning process?
Answer: First, an applicant applies for an open position through our website. Then we do an assessment to determine math computation skills, how they would handle certain customer interactions, etc. Then we do a phone interview to learn about the applicants service attitudes or ethos. The next step is a face-to-face interview and then a meeting with the hiring leader.

Question: I would like to hear more about orientation process if you could talk a little bit more about it.
Answer: A year and a half ago, we actually revamped our entire new employee orientation process. We want to ensure that on the very first day, our customer care professionals know that they joined a great company. In each one of our service centers, we welcome our new hires and they go through a scheduled day of events. In Fort Lauderdale, for example, I am the first person to talk to the new hires as a group. We share our servicing ethos, our Relationship Care ethos, the history of our service center and the company. Throughout the day, we take them through the usual benefits enrollment.

Other senior leaders address the new hires during the day and we communicate how important the customer care professionals role are to the company. At end of day, we have a networking session where leadership teams and all of the Vice Presidents will stop by. During this time, new hires can enroll in employee networks, the backup child care center and other programs. Most important, the first day reaffirms their decision to work with American Express, and our decision to hire them. We try to create that “wow” experience, just as we try to create the same with each and every customer interaction. We want them to walk away that first day knowing that they joined the greatest company in America.

Part two will be posted next week and will include information on how American Express decides to hire new employees versus promote them from within, more information on the compensation and motivation methods the company is using, how they use Net Promoter, information on the company’s “Relationship Care” program, and more.

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Customers may leave because they don’t like your product, their friends have influenced them to move to another company, or the competition simply has you beat, but according to statistics, most customers leave because of a change in attitude or indifference by the business. Customers always have to think you care, and customers want you to make them feel good.

Using the time-honored tenet of it being easier to keep an old customer than to find a new one, companies need to concentrate on customer user groups, periodic surveys, social networking, blogging, and above all – customer service. When you have hired the right people, and your employees know how to make customers feel important, customers keep coming back.

For instance, the hairdresser at the salon I have used for years recently relocated to another state. As most of you know, a woman’s hairdresser is really important, and never to be taken lightly. And, so after my hairdresser left, the owner of the salon called me, and asked me what she could do for me to help meet my needs. I was a bit elusive at the beginning since I didn’t feel as if the owner had been paying attention, but within a few days the owner called me, continued to stay in contact, offered suggestions, and made me feel as if I was a very important client. I was able to openly discuss some reservations I had about changing products and stylist, but she was informative, honest, and won my confidence back.

Customer retention strategies are an ongoing process. Concentrate on the most important elements:

• Hire the right people who have the right attitude. Are they friendly? Do they thank you?
• Do what you promise. Customers remember, and customers leave if you disappoint them by not delivering what you promise.
• Pay attention to your customers, and what is going on around you in your business.
• Help the customer even though it might not mean a sale at that particular time. Go beyond your own needs.
• Handle complaints in a mature manner. Admit when something has gone wrong, and correct your mistake. Always apologize to the customer.
• Stay in contact with the customer, and know their needs.

If you keep a database of addresses and email lists, send your customers birthday cards, promotions, and current interesting information. You want to stay in their minds, but never make it seem as if you are being a pest.

photo credit: Art Pets Photography

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So what is the customer service lesson to be learned here? Let’s start with no matter how angry a customer gets, every customer service agent must remain calm and never yell. Training is based on practice, practice, practice. The unique and effective skills needed for managing heated confrontations need to be reinforced with role-playing and again – practice, practice, practice. Training should concentrate on ways to stay calm when an angry customer lashes out, how to choose the response action that will best suit the situation, and innovative ways to bring those volatile interactions to a polite and positive close.

According to the recent news reports, the flight attendant had years of experience, and had been dealing with a personal stressful situation, but he let the customer make the problem personal, took the bait and from that point on, there was no winning. The focus should have been kept on the problem; not the person or the conversation. Immediately upon asking the passenger to be seated until the plane came to a complete stop, the passenger should have been warned it is a FAA regulation subject to criminal prosecution.

The “customer is always right” may have created some high maintenance people, but airline passengers know there are consequences for FAA violations. Customer service agents, and in this case the flight attendant escalated the problem, took it as a personal attack. His last resort and best choice in this situation should have been to let another attendant handle the situation.

Let’s hope that JetBlue treats this sad situation as a learning experience, and hopefully another flight attendant on the verge of a similar outburst can be shown how to best resolve issues in a polite and positive manner.

For more on this situation, see this article from ABC News.

photo credit: gordontarpley

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I walked into my local branch of Wachovia Bank to speak with a mortgage representative about one of my real estate customers, and since I was early, I had to wait until the mortgage representative was out of her meeting. It actually was a good opportunity for me to gather information for today’s blog. The incident happened during lunch time when many bank employees were out of the building. The customer service representative standing at the kiosk in the lobby of the bank had been speaking to a customer about a “Power of Attorney” and its relevance to her aged parent. The customer had been speaking with the representative about five minutes when a second customer rushes into the bank and interrupts the conversation between the customer service representative and the first customer.

The second customer is a young, good-looking man dressed in an expensive business suit and says, “Excuse me, but I need to get into my safe deposit box immediately.”

The customer service representative turned to the business man and made eye-contact with him, held up her hand in a gesture suggesting  ‘wait a moment’  and responded with, ” I can help you in a few moments, or you can meet with one of our banking specialists as soon as someone is available.” The customer service representative then broke eye-contact with the second customer and returned her concentration to the first customer.

The first priority of an excellent customer service representative is to that of the first customer. The key was to limit her interaction with the second customer, but at the same time not to ignore his presence. She was able to use a short efficient method to address the second customer, and momentarily address him using eye-contact to assure him she was indeed paying attention. At the same time she offered him an option. It was important that she did not address the needs of the second customer while still attending to the first customer. It would have given that first customer the impression that she was less important. If however, the representative felt she could address the second customer’s needs quickly, she might have asked the first customer for permission to do so. A statement such as, “Would you mind if I help this gentleman while you read these documents over. It will only take me a few minutes to help him.”

Empowering customer service representatives with practical knowledge, service skills, and handling situations by role-playing definitely diffused a potentially difficult situation.

photo credit: TheTruthAbout..

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The first step in providing stellar customer service in the real estate market of today is to know your business. Any Realtor worth their gold-plated identification tag needs to attend seminars, webinars, read business journals, and trade magazines. Realtors need to check out inventory, know the changes in mortgage procedures, and beware of the ever-changing economy and its application to the real estate industry.

Then comes the job of cultivating business associates, competition, and that sphere of influence we hear about every week at staff meetings. Find a niche, and serve them well. Go that extra mile. A few months ago I met a social worker who helps patients going through drug and alcohol rehabilitation. Five years prior she told me she had been in a similar situation and had ruined her credit, but wanted so badly to buy a little condominium of her own. She had saved money, but had no idea how to go about purchasing a home, and no real estate agents ever called her back. We worked together for months to help her reestablish some credit, and her mother was willing to cosign a small loan. Joan now enjoys watching the boats go buy in her own cozy West Palm Beach condo.

From Joan other associates and friends called me for their real estate needs, and from there my business has expanded into higher end listings and sales, but I never turn down those who need help; it’s satisfying, rewarding and eventually lucrative.

And finally I find that to deliver excellent customer service, we need to be acutely aware of our competition. A few unscrupulous agents still exist, but for the most part, it is an honorable profession. Some of my colleagues are inspirational; they spend their extra time with volunteer passions of their choice. Charities range from childhood illnesses, cancer research and animal welfare. It’s all included in customer service; think of someone else’s need before you think of your own.

photo credit: Gold Beach Real Estate

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According to the 2010 survey in the Greater Toronto Area, 20% of new home buyers received a defect-free home as compared to the previous year when only 8% of the buyers were satisfied their new homes were perfect. Builders want to salvage new home sales, and although they try very hard to keep the prices consistent with homes that have already sold,  builders are offering buyer incentives that are luring new buyers away from the complicated short sales and a seemingly endless wait for the bank sales to be completed. Instead builders are now coming in with their checklists, and making sure that every complaint is addressed, hoping to motivate more buyers once the word gets out about the exemplary product delivered at closing.

JD Powers has been known primarily for their automotive research, but now looks to housing as another major purchase that consumers research extensively.

In the United States, builders are getting busy again and are also luring new buyers with incentives and promises of better products. With the work force and supplies less expensive now because of the economic downfall, Americans buyers have also benefited with thousands of dollars of extra options at no cost and an improved product because the builders have more time to finish the detail work.

Although there are no statistics available in my community built by Toll Brothers, their two-step pre-settlement inspection was designed to provide customer satisfaction with a 360 item checklist as a guide. The following week all repairs on the checklist were to be done by the builder. When our home was built during 2002, the market was booming, and the customer service we received was mediocre at the best. For new buyers moving into our community, although no surveys have been done, word of mouth at social functions indicate Toll Brothers now to be much more attentive to defects and warranty claims.

Let’s just hope the new awareness with improved customer service will continue with builders. It could even be a plus for the still staggering housing market.

photo credit: merfam

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Shouldn’t hospitals provide customer service? After all, Linda’s two-day stay for the removal of her appendix cost $78,236.40. “I  almost had a heart attack,” laughed Linda when she saw the bill. “I know I went in as an emergency, but really – $39,000 a day?” So Linda had to fight her way through the very confusing maze of hospital billing services, billing codes, insurance language, and way too few customer service representatives.

Linda does have experience in the medical profession, so her task was not as monumental than perhaps for the rest of us who might not have figured out how to read the bills, what insurance companies don’t cover, and even recognize some of the ridiculous fees that can show up on one’s bill. As an example, Linda was charged $66 for the water recovery system in her room. That was the plastic pitcher and one plastic cup!

In 1998, the US Advisory Commission on Consumer Protection and Quality in the Health Care Industry adopted the Patient’s Bill of Rights. It has three major goals, and for the first time provided patients with some level of customer service. The law intended to help patients feel more comfortable in the US health care system. It stresses the importance of a strong relationship between patients and health care providers. Finally, it explains to the patient how to protect their health and their rights, and this last section also applies to insurance plans.

It is unfortunate that medical expenses used to account for the most bankruptcies among Americans. (Now it is replaced by the mortgage failures and the economic downfall.) Patients and their families need not throw up their hands however, but can follow some of the basic principles once they finally do connect with a customer service representative.

Hospitals need to reconsider their role in customer service, and patients need to be related to as customers. There needs to be a liaison between patients and hospitals. Top executive officers and administrative staff need to work together to bring courtesy, efficiency, experience, service, and the best possible product to offer patients. Hospitals need to cultivate patient loyalty and patient satisfaction – no different from any business with a solid plan.

photo credit: Seattle Municipal Archives

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